Saigon: The home of the two story KFC

Exchange Rate:  $1USD = $16,500 Dong

Hello: Xin Chao

Thank you: Cam on

Time Difference:  14 hours ahead of PST

Preferred Method of transportation:  Cyclo: a bicycle driven carriage with a small seat in front

Ho Chi Minh City.  30 people are killed each day in traffic accidents in Vietnam, most of them, I suspect, in Ho Chi Minh.  There are 8 million people weaving cars and motorbikes through the unsignaled intersections, often at 90 degree angles to one anther.  Driving and crossing the street is a cross between playing a real life game of chicken and frogger.    Whoever honks the loudest, longest and doesn't flinch to oncoming traffic, usually gets the right-of-way.

Even compared to my stay in KL, my living situation has been stepped up a notch or two here.  We are staying at the Sheraton, Saigon.  Outside of the fact that anything you purchase in the hotel is 100 times more expensive than just outside the hotel, it is fantastic.  The shower has 3 different nozzles and the beds are Heavenly.

The food is amazing, two story KFC excepted, of course.  One of the delicacies we have not tried is balut. Balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo inside.  It is cooked and served in the shell, cracked, and eaten out of the shell with a spoon.  It is said to be an aphrodisiac.  The Vietnamese have limits with this dish.  If the duckling is too old, meaning the bone structure, or beak, is too fully developed, they will pass on that egg and move on to a younger, more tender one.  Another untried delicacy is dog.  Yes, they admittedly eat dog here.  Again, limits are put in place as they only eat mean, crazy or stupid dogs.  The smart ones are safe.  Darwinism at its finest.

We went on a tour and experienced Vietnam's unique religion of Cao Dai and the Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam war.   Everyone should consider converting to Cao Dai.  The religion, as explained by our tour guide, is a cross between "Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Taoism, Confucianism, Protestantism and Materialism" and the symbol is the one-eye.  Basically, you get to worship whoever or whatever you want, including material things.  That is freedom of religion.  Cao Dai is practiced by 4 million people and only in south Vietnam.  We viewed a noon mass and although it was nice to see, it felt a bit intrusive to be wandering around on the balcony above the worship snapping pictures during the mass.  

The tour of the Cu Chi tunnels (pronounced koochi) was a mix of emotions, mostly shock and sadness for the American and Vietnamese soldiers and civilians who died.  One the to the tunnels, our guide explained to us the devastation caused by our use of Agent Orange, Napalm, C-130s and B52 bombers then took us to a handicraft shop where the government employs victims of this American devastation.  After Colleen and I slumped down in our minivan seats then watched the victims create beautiful works of art with surgeon like precision, we did our part to help by purchasing a whole bunch of stuff from the handicraft store.  

The introduction at the Cu Chi tunnels told stories of American slaughter, Vietnamese war heroes, including a teenage girl, who were honored for the mass killing of Americans, and the various methods of Guerrilla warfare employed by the Vietnamese.  The stories were told matter-of-factly, without hatred towards America, even by our guide who fought against us in the war and lost several family members and friends to our destruction of Cu Chi.  Even presented as such, it is extremely difficult to listen to.  Seen through the eyes of the South Vietnamese supporting the Vietcong, I can begin to understand the mayhem of the war.  The tour included demonstration of the underground traps set by the Vietnamese to mame, but not kill, American soldiers before we entered and crawled around the tunnels.  The opening to the tunnels were about 16" by 12", limiting the size of the people who can enter.  Additionally, the tunnels were narrowed at certain point to keep out the "big, fat Americans".  The tunnels we entered were about 3' high by 2' wide.  They were hot and damp.  It is unimaginable what it must have been like to live down there with little to no light.  

The most uplifting part of the Cu Chi tunnel tour was when we got to shoot an AK-47 and a M-16.  Talk about power.  The Chinese and Russians supplied some great weapons!